Anglers harvested 263,278 dolphin, with a total weight of 2.8 million pounds in 2016. That was a 39.4 percent decrease in the number of dolphin anglers brought to the docks. This dip in harvest may have resulted from the greater availability of yellowfin tuna and other offshore species, such as king mackerel, wahoo and blackfin tuna.

Also, the number of cobia landed fell by 42.5 percent, in 2016 to 9,288 fish (293,544 pounds).

In another notable change, estimated spotted seatrout harvests for 2016 increased by 342 percent over 2015, which were the lowest recreational spotted seatrout landings on record. Anglers brought 386,021 (688,682 pounds) spotted seatrout to the docks in 2016.

Landings can fluctuate from year-to year based on many factors, including environmental conditions and fishing effort.

The Division of Marine Fisheries estimates recreational fishing harvests through broad-based intercept surveys, where port agents talk to fishermen on the beach, at the piers and at boat ramps, and through mail surveys to license holders.